LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Telecommunications giant BT said on Thursday that Q3 revenues had fallen amid weaker phone sales and a struggling business unit.

BT said adjusted revenues fell 3% to £5.18bn in the three months ended 31 December on the back of a 12% decline in equipment revenue, mainly handset trading. BT's Q3 revenue result was short of analyst expectations for revenues of £5.25bn.

Adjusted underlying earnings, on the other hand, rose 3.7% in Q3 to £2.1bn, ahead of the £2.06bn average City estimate. Pre-tax profits were up 1% at £427.0m, primarily due to EBITDA growth, offset partially by increased net finance costs and increased depreciation and amortisation.

On a year-to-date basis, revenues were down 3% at £15.32bn, while adjusted EBITDA was 2% higher at £6.23bn.

BT added that its cost transformation programme remained "on track, delivering efficiencies across all units, with energy usage in its networks down 3% in the year-to-date and total labour resource down 3% year-on-year.

Chief executive Allison Kirkby said: "Our ongoing modernisation continues at pace, delivering a further step-up in fibre build and take-up, customer satisfaction and EBITDA. Benefits from our cost transformation more than offset lower revenue outside the UK and weak handset sales.

"BT's continued delivery means we remain on track to deliver our financial outlook for this year and our cash flow inflection to circa £2.0bn in 2027 and circa £3.0bn by the end of the decade.

As of 0840 GMT, BT shares were down 3.70% at 140.60p.











Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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